Russian and Eastern European food is something I never got much exposure to, so I'm quite happy whenever I can find a restaurant of that persuasion. Oddly enough, it's easier to find an authentic Chinese restaurant in Vancouver than it is an authentic Eastern European restaurant.
I'd seen this Transylvania Flavour Restaurant often as I drove down Broadway but never actually ate there. Well, we did that a few weeks ago.
How was the meal? 100% disappointment. I don't know whether it's authentic or not, but it sure as heck wasn't good. It was a complete rip-off for what we paid. We left full but feeling empty inside. There are a few good authentic Eastern European/Russian joints in Vancouver, but sadly, this is not one of them. At least, judging by our first experience there, we don't want to go back.
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Mixed Grill (bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, lamb chop, chicken breast & Transylvanian sausage, served with home cut fries & seasonal steamed veggies) $23.95
I got this dish. It was one of the only ones on the menu that actually sounded appetizing.
When it came out, it looked quite beautiful, I must say.
When I tucked into it, though, every single element of this dish was a disappointment. Uniformly, none of the elements of this dish had any flavor. It was as if they'd just thrown the things into the oven and cooked them without almost any seasoning. Everything tasted bland. It's remarkable to be able to serve a dish consisting entirely of three different kinds of meat and yet manage to make a dish that has almost no flavor. It was a waste of good ingredients.
The so-called seasonal veggies they served were also unseasoned and nearly uncooked. I had to leave them all on my plate.
The french fries were the best part of the dish.
Lamb Shank Ossobuco (tender braised lamb shank, with roasted mushroom juice, topped with caramelized onions, served with buttered vegetables & mashed potatoes) $23.95
Kweepo got this, on my recommendation. I recommended it because ossobuco is good when done properly, and I've been trying to find a restaurant in Vancouver that serves a good ossobuco to introduce Kweepo to ossobuco.
It also looked really nice coming out and got my mouth watering. However, this dish was equally disappointing. The so-called ossobuco was nothing of the sort. By definition, ossobuco is braised veal shank, not lamb shank. So it's not really even ossobuco.
But that wasn't our problem with this dish. The problem was that, like my dish, it was bland and flavorless. It had only the faintest hint of the flavor of what a real ossobuco is supposed to taste like.
I felt bad for having recommended the dish, naively expecting they would actually get it right if they have the temerity to serve it. Foiled again. My search goes on for a good ossobuco.
The veggies in her dish were pretty much identical to mine. I doubt they bothered to prepare them differently, even though the description describes a different preparation for each of our plates. It looks like they just prepared one batch and put them on both of our plates to save time.
On top of this, the wine prices were on the high end ($8-$9), as were the prices for everything else. Cocktails were between $9 and $11 and so-called "Transylvanian style tapas" a.k.a. starters were $12.
The one thing I can't complain about is the service. They were prompt, polite and attentive. I value good service, so I appreciate that aspect. However, if the food isn't good, then it's all for naught.
I came into this place fully prepared and wanting to love it. I left disappointed. They charge excessively high prices for food that is at best mediocre. If you charge a price like that, you had better be sure your food can back it up.
It's strange, because looking at the rating on Urbanspoon just now, it seems to be a pretty highly regarded restaurant. Is it possible that we caught them on an off night? Or that we chose the wrong dish? Perhaps. I would love to be wrong about these guys, because I would like another reliable source of good Eastern European cuisine. But it seems to me like a pretty bad indicator to get two fairly easy dishes like that wrong.
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